Fourth hour saw an impressive mixture of hooks (allusion, imagery-filled, exemplification of context), thorough thesis statements with fun verbs (recontextualize), hybrid strategies (anaphoric hypophora), and mature purposes (I should have my notes with my while I type for an example!), "body" sections full of strategies, evidence, citations, and connections to the audience (if you have hypophora, is there any other angle to analyze?), and conclusions that connected back to the beginning.
Promising start to these informal presentations - with the intention of the last 3 occurring on Friday. Just a few quick reminders - cite everything, try not to play it safe with your strategy choices, know your passage! The last tip revolves around the premise of this activity, which is to not type out paragraphs and essays and read verbatim. While this may make your diction sound incredible (it sure does), it does take away from the engagement of the passage and your own ethos. Our best analysts today relied on notes for a structure and evidence and then talked to the class about the passage.
What is upcoming? You will have the second and last diagnostic prompt to see how you handle a cold read in a timed environment and to see what you have picked up over the last few weeks to improve your writing and analysis. For fourth hour, your second diagnostic will be on Monday.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Prep, Prep, Prep
1, 4, 7: Your 50 minutes were dedicated to prepping for your partner verbal rhetorical analysis presentations that will shortly be under way. As noted, you have a total of 60 minutes of in-class work time with your partner. Hence, the sand is almost completely through the hour glass. Make sure that you have conceived an engaging hook for your classmates, have your rhetorical strategies bound together with evidence, and have total understanding of your passage. One more reminder, you are not writing this as an essay, you are not reading paragraphs directly from a page - this is a note-based assignment so that you can use your knowledge and express your ideas to the class. Your ethos comes from knowing your material and naturally talking about all of your strategies, purposes, and evidence.
3: Meanwhile, we are finishing up The Overachievers with sharing your partner work - the thesis (don't forget those adjectives for the rhetorical strategies), the topic sentence for your strategy pick, evidence of the strategy from the experiences of Julie, Audrey, and Frank , and brief explanatory analysis wrapping up this package. As you may have noticed, you and your partner have been taking part in an informal verbal presentation - the sharing of your ideas without prefabricating everything you will say in a paragraph or essay. As analysts, you need to be able to communicate your ideas and show off your ethos, your knowledge, your comprehension - at any time. Have faith in your abilities. You would be surprised with what you can verbalize! If you happened to be absent, construct a thesis statement for the entirety of The Overachievers with the three main strategies and the purpose.
3: Meanwhile, we are finishing up The Overachievers with sharing your partner work - the thesis (don't forget those adjectives for the rhetorical strategies), the topic sentence for your strategy pick, evidence of the strategy from the experiences of Julie, Audrey, and Frank , and brief explanatory analysis wrapping up this package. As you may have noticed, you and your partner have been taking part in an informal verbal presentation - the sharing of your ideas without prefabricating everything you will say in a paragraph or essay. As analysts, you need to be able to communicate your ideas and show off your ethos, your knowledge, your comprehension - at any time. Have faith in your abilities. You would be surprised with what you can verbalize! If you happened to be absent, construct a thesis statement for the entirety of The Overachievers with the three main strategies and the purpose.
Monday, September 9, 2019
The Next Phase of RA
Since (most) classes have worked on close reading The Overachievers, developing thesis statements, scouring a passage for evidence, and explaining its analytical import, you are now ready to move to the further over-analysis, i.e. microscopic evaluation of a text.
Following our mini version of a presentation (yep, that's what you did today) of rhetorical strategies for The Overachievers, we are or will be in a packet of passages for the verbal group presentation. Whether your class has reached this point or not, all 9 passages are included in the packet for additional practice and notes. If you do have the time prior to presentations, I would recommend practicing close reading on as many of these passages as you can and isolate what main strategies are in each one. This will garner greater confidence in our future close reads. You can also take notes during the class presentations to compare/contrast your responses and/or have further examples of how to compose a rhetorical analysis.
Before processing the day's agenda, do recall that the vocab quiz for unit 12 occurred today, and any absentees have 48 hours to either make up the quiz or schedule a time for the task.
1 & 4: We completed the Overachievers with partners sharing their thesis statements, topic sentences, evidence, and brief explanatory analysis. In both classes, the strategies of pathos, anecdotes, and juxtaposition were the popular choices, which would make for a thorough investigation of rhetorical process if we were to expand to a full essay. Alas, we are not since you will be doing that with your group verbal presentation, assigned today. Each partner/small group has a passage to close read this evening and prep strategies and possible hooks for the presentation - all in preparation for prep time in class tomorrow. We will be presenting your findings after 60 minutes of in-class prep time, so be aware of what you will need to do outside of class as a result. Absentees are not that far behind in the game, so you will have your passages tomorrow.
3: After looking at how Julie is presented through all those anecdotes, juxtaposition, pathos, and the like, you were assigned a new Overachiever to analyze, either Audrey or AP Frank. We are currently in the midst of sharing strategies with a partner regarding these two overachievers, which will resume tomorrow.
7: After planning our double dip and cookie shindig for the block day, we resumed our pathway into rhetorical analysis with the group verbal presentation, a partner activity akin to your Overachievers work - but much more developed, detailed, and delineated. Each partnership has a passage to close read and create a verbal essay for class presentation. While you will have a total of 60 minutes of class prep time, anything else will occur outside of the classroom, so make sure you and your partner are ready to go.
Following our mini version of a presentation (yep, that's what you did today) of rhetorical strategies for The Overachievers, we are or will be in a packet of passages for the verbal group presentation. Whether your class has reached this point or not, all 9 passages are included in the packet for additional practice and notes. If you do have the time prior to presentations, I would recommend practicing close reading on as many of these passages as you can and isolate what main strategies are in each one. This will garner greater confidence in our future close reads. You can also take notes during the class presentations to compare/contrast your responses and/or have further examples of how to compose a rhetorical analysis.
Before processing the day's agenda, do recall that the vocab quiz for unit 12 occurred today, and any absentees have 48 hours to either make up the quiz or schedule a time for the task.
1 & 4: We completed the Overachievers with partners sharing their thesis statements, topic sentences, evidence, and brief explanatory analysis. In both classes, the strategies of pathos, anecdotes, and juxtaposition were the popular choices, which would make for a thorough investigation of rhetorical process if we were to expand to a full essay. Alas, we are not since you will be doing that with your group verbal presentation, assigned today. Each partner/small group has a passage to close read this evening and prep strategies and possible hooks for the presentation - all in preparation for prep time in class tomorrow. We will be presenting your findings after 60 minutes of in-class prep time, so be aware of what you will need to do outside of class as a result. Absentees are not that far behind in the game, so you will have your passages tomorrow.
3: After looking at how Julie is presented through all those anecdotes, juxtaposition, pathos, and the like, you were assigned a new Overachiever to analyze, either Audrey or AP Frank. We are currently in the midst of sharing strategies with a partner regarding these two overachievers, which will resume tomorrow.
7: After planning our double dip and cookie shindig for the block day, we resumed our pathway into rhetorical analysis with the group verbal presentation, a partner activity akin to your Overachievers work - but much more developed, detailed, and delineated. Each partnership has a passage to close read and create a verbal essay for class presentation. While you will have a total of 60 minutes of class prep time, anything else will occur outside of the classroom, so make sure you and your partner are ready to go.
Friday, September 6, 2019
Julie & Audrey & AP Frank
No matter where you are in the Overachievers, you have an example of a classifying image (The Superstar, The Perfectionist, The Workhorse) that does not always fit the internal struggle that eventually emerges via various strategies, organization, and exemplification.
Beyond our Overachievers work, we reviewed vocabulary today, which means that the vocab quiz will be on Monday. There might be a view rhetorical strategies on there too since we have been solidly emphasizing a handful of them this past week.
1 & 4: Now identified as Audrey or AP Frank, you collaborated in partnerships, sharing the strategies and presentation examples for each overachiever. Following that activity, the partners formulated a thesis statement utilizing the 4 part formula (author + active verb + specific strategies + mature purpose) and giving you the opportunity to exhibit your own upper-level diction choices. Ending the hour, you selected 1 of the strategies to prep for sharing on Monday. The sharing of your strategy will involve a topic sentence, examples of evidence from each part of the text, and explanation ideas. From eavesdropping on your work today, we should have some strong strategy analysis!
3: Meetings for the Gladwell prompt have concluded with the hope that you will now take those suggestions and improve your writing and your overall score. At the end of class, we began our Overachievers work by looking at how Julie is introduced to us via the image, the logos, the enumeration of a resume-like p.o.v., which is then quickly juxtaposed with the internal struggle and the pathos forming from her stressful classification as Superstar. For the weekend, finish reading Julie's passage and note how the author continues to introduce her to us.
7: Resuming with the Overachievers, you finished sharing Audrey & AP Frank's passages and how strategies were formulated to introduce this perfectionist and workhorse to us. Then, you worked with your partner to craft a thesis statement, formula-style, mature diction-style, which then turned into the analysis and sharing of one strategy with the class. While this is a verbal version of rhetorical analysis, the process is still the same: read, purpose, strategies, evidence from across the passage, analysis. All of this is setting up for your partner verbal analysis on a passage, which will require more in-depth analysis and observations. Hopefully, we will make it to the preliminary part of this presentation assignment. If not, there is always Monday.
Beyond our Overachievers work, we reviewed vocabulary today, which means that the vocab quiz will be on Monday. There might be a view rhetorical strategies on there too since we have been solidly emphasizing a handful of them this past week.
1 & 4: Now identified as Audrey or AP Frank, you collaborated in partnerships, sharing the strategies and presentation examples for each overachiever. Following that activity, the partners formulated a thesis statement utilizing the 4 part formula (author + active verb + specific strategies + mature purpose) and giving you the opportunity to exhibit your own upper-level diction choices. Ending the hour, you selected 1 of the strategies to prep for sharing on Monday. The sharing of your strategy will involve a topic sentence, examples of evidence from each part of the text, and explanation ideas. From eavesdropping on your work today, we should have some strong strategy analysis!
3: Meetings for the Gladwell prompt have concluded with the hope that you will now take those suggestions and improve your writing and your overall score. At the end of class, we began our Overachievers work by looking at how Julie is introduced to us via the image, the logos, the enumeration of a resume-like p.o.v., which is then quickly juxtaposed with the internal struggle and the pathos forming from her stressful classification as Superstar. For the weekend, finish reading Julie's passage and note how the author continues to introduce her to us.
7: Resuming with the Overachievers, you finished sharing Audrey & AP Frank's passages and how strategies were formulated to introduce this perfectionist and workhorse to us. Then, you worked with your partner to craft a thesis statement, formula-style, mature diction-style, which then turned into the analysis and sharing of one strategy with the class. While this is a verbal version of rhetorical analysis, the process is still the same: read, purpose, strategies, evidence from across the passage, analysis. All of this is setting up for your partner verbal analysis on a passage, which will require more in-depth analysis and observations. Hopefully, we will make it to the preliminary part of this presentation assignment. If not, there is always Monday.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Outliers & Overachievers
If you are out of class and not having an Overachievers text, go to this link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Overachievers-Secret-Lives-Driven-Kids/dp/140130902X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535739356&sr=8-1&keywords=the+overachievers. Look at the book cover on the far left side, and click on "Look Inside." Then, scroll down to Chapter 1 and read whatever assigned sections are for your class.
3: We are still in meeting mode, which will continue tomorrow.
7: After wrapping up how Robbins constructed Superstar Julie, we moved into the next 2 Overachievers, Audrey and AP Frank. If absent, you should finish the reading and close read for organization and strategies to see how the author introduces the other people populating this competitive world of academics.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Reemerging of Strategies
In all classes, we continued forward with our vocab experts and then moved into individual hour's agendas. As hinted in the last blog, and which seventh hour found out to be a need today, know your modes of discourse so you have a greater understanding of passages and texts and, an added bonus, sound smarter too!
1 & 4: We finished our meetings today. Hooray! Hopefully, you have a better sense of what to do in the near future for your next assessments, the verbal partner RA and the cold read diagnostic. We will be working with noting what the author does in a passage, naming strategies correctly, and determining why the author has that strategy (hint - modes of discourse may be part of this).
3: You now have your essays back, have filled out your goal sheets, have formulated questions for our meetings, have started highlighting verbs and revising the passive, mundane ones with active, vibrant ones, and have spent quality time with your toolbox in preparation for stronger understanding of the passages. Phew! We are in process with our meetings, which will most likely take all of Thursday's class. With that in mind, take the class time, when you are not in a meeting, of course, and gain ethos on those modes of discourse and strategies.
7: Today was the reemerging of strategy finding, identifying by name, and analyzing with brief passages from The Outliers (look how we went from identifying the placement of repetition, for instance, to how it connected to the mode of discourse) and a longer passage from The Overachievers. As noted in class, the author introduces The Superstar to us in a plethora of ways to give us the ultimate picture of our dear Julie (at least she's dear now since EW began our class with a lack of affection for our picture perfect high school star). For homework, finish up your Julie reading and note the other techniques and strategies that the author continues to give us regarding the introduction of Julie. We'll meet our other 2 Overachievers during tomorrow's class. Great work today - how cool that we started off with talking about imagery and pathos, moves into tone shifts, and somehow managed to build to a crescendo of juxtaposition! Look what all of you are capable of doing!
1 & 4: We finished our meetings today. Hooray! Hopefully, you have a better sense of what to do in the near future for your next assessments, the verbal partner RA and the cold read diagnostic. We will be working with noting what the author does in a passage, naming strategies correctly, and determining why the author has that strategy (hint - modes of discourse may be part of this).
3: You now have your essays back, have filled out your goal sheets, have formulated questions for our meetings, have started highlighting verbs and revising the passive, mundane ones with active, vibrant ones, and have spent quality time with your toolbox in preparation for stronger understanding of the passages. Phew! We are in process with our meetings, which will most likely take all of Thursday's class. With that in mind, take the class time, when you are not in a meeting, of course, and gain ethos on those modes of discourse and strategies.
7: Today was the reemerging of strategy finding, identifying by name, and analyzing with brief passages from The Outliers (look how we went from identifying the placement of repetition, for instance, to how it connected to the mode of discourse) and a longer passage from The Overachievers. As noted in class, the author introduces The Superstar to us in a plethora of ways to give us the ultimate picture of our dear Julie (at least she's dear now since EW began our class with a lack of affection for our picture perfect high school star). For homework, finish up your Julie reading and note the other techniques and strategies that the author continues to give us regarding the introduction of Julie. We'll meet our other 2 Overachievers during tomorrow's class. Great work today - how cool that we started off with talking about imagery and pathos, moves into tone shifts, and somehow managed to build to a crescendo of juxtaposition! Look what all of you are capable of doing!
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings
With the exception of third hour (we'll catch up eventually), AP Lang centered around prompt meetings with the goal of close reading, writing, and analyzing better for our next diagnostic. Hopefully, the feedback, your goals for improvement, your verb identification and revision, and your work on the toolbox and reviewing strategies will be the avenues for large-scale movement up the AP grading scale.
And for those of you reading the blog, as instructed, suggested, and reminded to do, you should know the modes of discourse for our upcoming activities.
1 & 4: Vocab plus malapropism, zeugma, anadiplosis. Meetings still in progress.
3: Vocab plus completion of the RA and writing prompt tips. Prompt returns and meetings begin tomorrow.
7: Vocab and any meetings still left from Friday's class. We will be back into identifying strategies via passages from The Outliers and The Overachievers.
And for those of you reading the blog, as instructed, suggested, and reminded to do, you should know the modes of discourse for our upcoming activities.
1 & 4: Vocab plus malapropism, zeugma, anadiplosis. Meetings still in progress.
3: Vocab plus completion of the RA and writing prompt tips. Prompt returns and meetings begin tomorrow.
7: Vocab and any meetings still left from Friday's class. We will be back into identifying strategies via passages from The Outliers and The Overachievers.
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